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If you were to rewrite the seven habits of highly effective leaders today what would you say? As social business becomes more important, and social media more pervasive, leaders need to adapt. In fact leaders need to learn fast about what motivates large ecosystems of free agents to rally to them, not to their competitors.

There's a new level of transparency around a leader's actions. They are visible and known, they have reputations that depend on the vast community of independent peers whose incomes rely on their judgment and actions.

They have large peer networks that they need to persuade and encourage. They are vulnerable to adverse opinion expressed online by strangers or pressure groups.

In the past they had employees to impress and instruct. Even now, for example in fast moving consumer goods, supermarkets act fast and loose with suppliers. I can't see that happening with a developer ecosystem.

Leaders face an environment that is wholly different from that of ten years ago. In short leaders need to develop new effective habits.

I think the key to the debate lies in this new environment rather than in looking back.

Sure, there are still executives who see themselves in the old swashbuckling mode or like to think of management as equivalent to flying at 30,000 feet.

Acceptable or good habits a decade back might not work now.

Truly great modern leaders know they depend on an ecosystem and multiple peer groups; they need the peer groups' trust; they need their peers to invest in the company vision perhaps by building apps or by developing complementary platforms (for example, think of all those people who have bought into PayPal's X Commerce initiative).

They know their every move is being watched (at least all the moves they make public).